Prostitution Petition Debated at Bradford Civic Hall

By Rachel Gallacher

A campaign to remove prostitutes and kerb crawlers from a Bradford Street has been received by Bradford City Council.

Over fifteen hundred residents and business people signed the petition to rid Lumb Lane in Manningham of sex workers, once and for all.







Lumb Lane was known as the Red Light District area of Bradford for many years until they were moved on by the police where they re-located to another street.

However, over the past few years, they have started to move back. Lead Petitioner Majid Khan said: ''The problem of prostitution has increased dramatically over the last two years and it has come to a stage where we can not take it any further.''

Speaking at the council meeting earlier this week, Mr Khan went on to say: ''The prostitutes and pimps start their work at 2 pm. After 11 pm, the streets are ruled by the prostitutes and their pimps. At that time, people are fearful of coming out on to the street and they remain there until 8 am.''

West Yorkshire police did manage to rid the sex workers from the area but Mr Khan believes that as soon as the heavy police presence was withdrawn, 'the problem came back again.'

As more than fifteen hundred people had signed the petition, fifteen minutes time had been given to discuss the problem. Once Mr Khan's five minutes were up, the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Khadim Hussain let Councillors express their opinion of the issue concerned.

Labour Councillor for Manningham Shabir Hussain said: ''I've lived in Manningham since 1969, it's always been my home and I've lived off Lumb Lane itself. It's absloutely fantastic what you have done here, the petition, it shows how you, businesses and residents feel.

 ''We and West Yorkshire Police will do the best we can... I have seen the neighbourhood policing team, inspector Baildon and they have took action. They have made fifty-two arrests in three months.''

The petition has now been passed on to the Bradford West Area Committee.